Florida farmworkers are facing heightened health risks from extreme heat and pesticide exposure, compounded by state laws that block local heat protections and workplace policies that restrict access to water. With more than 150,000 farmworkers in the state, many labor in conditions where rising temperatures, limited hydration, and chemical exposure converge to create dangerous working environments.

Jeannie Economos, pesticide safety environmental health project coordinator for the Farmworker Association of Florida, said long-tenured workers report a noticeable shift in heat intensity. "Workers that have been doing farmwork for a long time will tell us that even though they’re used to the heat because they work in Florida, that every year the heat feels different. And it feels hotter.

And it feels like it’s scorching, and almost like it’s attacking rather than just being hot," she said. Economos added, "There’s a different quality to the heat that they haven’t experienced before, and it’s really rough.

Dehydration is a primary concern under these conditions. Economos warned that dehydration not only causes fatigue and weakness but can impair vital organs. One of the main concerns that we have is dehydration, because not only can dehydration make you thirsty and make you tired and make you weak.

But chronic dehydration and even acute dehydration can affect your other organs, including your kidney and your heart and your brain and your liver because your blood flow is different throughout your body," she said. She also noted that heat and dehydration heighten accident risks: "You’re more prone to accidents if you’re really hot and you’re dehydrated.

Access to water remains a barrier. Economos explained that farmworkers are often barred from bringing personal water bottles into fields due to contamination concerns, especially in food crop production. Then also oftentimes they are not allowed to bring their water bottles to the work area with them because of fear of contamination, especially in food crops," she said.

Instead, workers must walk to a central cooler, which may be as far as a quarter-mile away. "To be able to drink enough, because they’re supposed to stay hydrated, they have to walk to the cooler, wherever the cooler is. That can be sometimes a quarter of a mile away, and sometimes the water isn’t cold. Sometimes the water isn’t clean if they’re working outside," she added.

Time constraints further limit hydration. Supervisors often pressure workers to minimize breaks, leaving little room for rest or bathroom use. "Then oftentimes they don’t have time to go get a drink of water because their supervisor wants them to be back.

They only have like 10 minutes to go to the bathroom," Economos said. This has led some workers to extreme measures. "So sometimes farmworkers actually wear diapers to work. Sometimes they won’t drink water because they don’t want to have to go to the bathroom," she noted. Even lunch breaks offer little relief. "And then even during lunch if they have only a half-an-hour lunch break, they have to walk to the area where the lunch room is, and then that takes up time too," she said.

Economos also emphasized the compounding health effects of heat and pesticide exposure. "There’s a real concern about the compounding effect of being exposed to high heat temperatures and pesticides," she stated. She cited research indicating that high temperatures increase pesticide absorption in the body.

"The studies that we’ve seen show that there is increased absorption of pesticides in the body when there’s high temperatures," she said. The consequences can be severe and long-lasting, particularly for women. "There’s long-term consequences. There’s reproductive health consequences for farmworker women: low birth weight, higher miscarriages," she said, adding, "A lot of women have to work when they’re pregnant.

Farmworkers also contend with housing and disaster vulnerabilities. They’re the most impacted communities. And they live in generally, sometimes inadequate housing.

And they’re often in vulnerable areas," she said. Natural disasters exacerbate these challenges. "So farmworkers are hit not only by flooding and damage to their homes. But if there’s crop damage then they also lose their work, she explained. Undocumented workers face additional barriers to seeking aid. Then if they’re undocumented, that makes them afraid to get help and then they really go underground," she said.

State policy limits local responses to these conditions. Two years ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law prohibiting local governments from enacting heat protections for outdoor workers. In response, the Farmworker Association of Florida supported legislation in the state Legislature aimed at establishing heat-protection standards for all outdoor workers, though the measure has not yet passed.

Florida’s agricultural sector relies on more than 150,000 farmworkers who harvest a wide range of crops, including blueberries, strawberries, tropical fruit, vegetables like lettuce and peppers, and melons during late spring and early summer. The convergence of intensifying heat, restricted water access, and pesticide exposure creates a documented public health concern, with studies showing increased heat-related illness symptoms and heightened chemical absorption under high temperatures. The state’s preemption law removes a key avenue for local governments to address these risks, leaving farmworkers with limited recourse despite evidence of acute and chronic health impacts.

The Farmworker Association of Florida, based in Apopka, has advocated for statewide heat standards as a necessary intervention. Without such protections, workers remain exposed to conditions that threaten immediate safety and long-term health, particularly for vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and undocumented individuals who may avoid seeking assistance due to fear of deportation.